The worldwide herbicide market is large, growing, and spans all continents. The target agricultural species for protection include the major row crops (e.g. corn, soy, and rice) but the dominant application is on cereal plants that are valued at over $3 billion annually. Existing herbicides use various mechanisms to kill plants, such as inhibiting lipid synthesis, inhibiting amino acid synthesis, growth regulation (synthetic auxins), inhibiting photosynthesis, inhibiting nitrogen metabolism, inhibiting pigmentation, disrupting cell membranes, or inhibiting root/seedling growth. The rapid appearance and spread of herbicide-resistant weeds poses a significant challenge. Despite rotating herbicides with different mechanisms of action to reduce the emergence of resistance, it has become increasingly clear from the spread of glyphosate resistance that additional herbicides may be necessary for crop management, and innovative approaches to herbicide discovery are required.
The present disclosure provides a novel approach for the discovery of herbicides with new mechanisms using plant pathways involved in cell death and critical development processes that can be used to identify and prioritize novel herbicidal compounds (and multi-compound formulations).
Examples of how to employ these plant regulatory pathways to identify useful herbicides are provided. Other aspects and embodiments of the instant disclosure are described below and can be derived from the teachings of this disclosure as a whole.